Night One of Sleep Training: What to Expect

We started sleep training our 5-month-old on Saturday and, like everything in parenting, there was a lot of research, what I expected to happen, and what actually happened. We were recommended PDFs from other parents who had sleep trained. We read about the different methodologies, from a gentle approach to extinction. We ended up applying what we thought was best for our circumstances, which ended up being graduated extinction—or as close to Ferber as you can get.

I don’t think specific sleep training methods are a one-size-fits-all approach for parents. I.e., Ferber may not work for everyone. What I can relay is my experience and what worked for us to potentially help other parents in the process. Below, I will discuss a few things we weren’t prepared for and how we handled them.

Before you start sleep training, check with your pediatrician to ensure your baby’s weight is good and that they have no other concerns.

1. What If They Roll onto Their Stomach?

Always check with your pediatrician beforehand, but if your baby is doing the following:

• Rolling from back to front

• Rolling from front to back

• Has good neck control

• Is not in a swaddle while sleeping

Leave them be! You’ll want to put them down on their back, but if they are able to roll to their stomach and find it easier to self-soothe, don’t feel the need to turn them over. We made this mistake on our first night and probably could have saved 30 minutes of crying. Our little guy soothes much easier on his stomach, and it’s looking like his preferred method of sleeping after we put him down on his back initially.

2. What About Nap Routines and Night Wakings?

For nap routines, we follow a pared-down approach to what we do at night. If you do something like bath → books → goodnight for the nighttime routine, you can probably take out the bath and do a wipe-down or eliminate the bath altogether.

For night wakings, we let him try to cry for about 10 minutes or so to self-soothe back to sleep. If he is hungry, we do a quick diaper change to avoid the sleep-feed association and then allow him to eat. Try to keep them awake during this feeding so they can break the feed-sleep association. You want the little one to be less dependent on you to get themselves to sleep.

3. How Can I Get Through Sleep Training?

I was talking to another dad who went through sleep training, and he offered some good words of advice: “Try not to hover over the monitor.” The first night, we obsessively checked the monitor to make sure he was okay—especially since we didn’t know what to do when he rolled onto his stomach. He has always slept on his back. I remember going in once he went quiet and feeling his back to make sure he was breathing. He was, lol.

That first day—or the first few days—will be tough, but one thing I started doing is occupying myself with another task while passively checking the monitor. This is usually some light cleanup around the house or a small workout routine. It helps get my mind off of it while still allowing me to be there for check-ins when needed.

Conclusion

As you enter the sleep training journey, read what you can and stay flexible. Hopefully this information helped to prepare you for night one of sleep training. Don’t be too hard on yourself if they don’t go down easily every time. Some days will just be harder, and that’s okay. As long as the baby is going down easier over time, that’s all you can ask for.

There’s supposed to be a regression when they start teething, so I’ll keep you updated on this journey. Until then, cheers! 🍻